§ 33. SPIRIT OF ORNAMENT. 227 



on an attempt to imitate the absolute forms of those works : 

 and that, whenever this limit was exceeded in any art, jt was 

 one of the strongest symptoms of decline — true art consisting 

 in idealising, and not copying, the forms of nature."* 



33. [But while insisting on the false principles of direct imi- 

 tation for architectural designs, I admit of certain exceptions 

 to this as to every rule ; deviations from which must depend 

 on the discrimination of a talented artist. Thus the rope 

 moulding, so admired on the tower of Belem and other 

 buildings, and a mixture of natural objects in certain kinds 

 of mural decoration (as on walls and ceilings of Italian and 

 Pompeian rooms), are allowable, provided they are subser- 

 vient to — and the accessories, not the staple of — the general 

 ornamentation.] 



Indeed, in my objection to the direct imitation of natural 

 objects, as foliage and flowers, for architecture, I do not in- 

 clude the imitation of their general spirit and character; 

 and though the exact resemblance should not be attempted, 

 the general principles of nature may be followed, and con- 

 vention of foliage be based on the study of natural plants. The 

 rose, and the bell, or the cruciform-shaped, flower, the ivy, the 

 vine, and many others, may be conveniently treated without 

 losing their peculiar character ; like the honeysuckle, the acan- 

 thus, and others, in Greek ornament ; and the oak and the 

 maple, the trefoil, and the strawberry leaf, may be kept dis- 

 tinct without being exact copies of nature. I therefore 

 readily acknowledge the advantage to be derived from a 

 study of natural productions for ornamental flowers and 

 foliage ; and it is certainly important that students should be 

 imbued with a feeling for their beauties, a thorough know- 

 ledge of their elementary forms, and a comprehension of the 

 true principle of treating them conventionally. They should 



* See other excellent remarks in his paper on the " Principles of Ornament," 

 read at the Royal Institution of British Architects, Dec. 15, 1856, p. 28. 



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